Improved animal-trap



dinard tant CLARK POLLEY, Ol? SHELBYVILLE, TENNESSEE.

Letters Patent No. 94,642, dated September 7, 1869.

IMPROVED ANIMAL-TRAP.

The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making pari of the sanneA To all whom it may concern Beit known that I, CLARK POLLEY, of Shelbyville, in the county of Bedfbrd, and State oi' Tennessee, have invented a new andiniproved Gopher-Trap; and I do. hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the construction and operation ofthe same, reference being had to the aocompanying drawings, making a part of this specifition, in which- Figure 1 is a side View,

Figure 2, an edge view, representing the left side, shown in fig. 1.

l rlhe object of this invention is to provide for public.

use a simple, cheap, convenient, and eii'ective trap, which, being set near the holes oi' burrowing animals, will destroy thein with certainty.

To this endl constructalight and simple trap, consisting of a vertical staff, provided with a short nib or handle; a long sharp spear or spears, attached to a curved and pivoted spur-holder; a spring to strike the spur into the animal; anda catch and trigger to hold the spur back, and let it go when the animal arrives at the proper position to receive the blow.

In the drawingsi A is the stati, sharpened orpointed at its lower end, so that it can be easily driven into the ground, and provided with a short handle, a, near its upper end, by which to carryit, thrust itinto or remove itfrom the ground, 85o. This. stati' or standard is slotted from the edge of the ground nearly or quite to the handle, andat plie part a is expanded into akind of double disk or shie d, for the purpose of protecting vthe spring hereinafter described, as well as of steadying the movement of the curved arm or spul-holden and of strengthening the standard where it supports the pivot oi the curved arm.

B is the curved arm above referred to, articulated to the standard A in the lower end of the slot, and supporting the spur C, as represented in the drawings.

in the side of the arm around the hub, but within the periphery oi' the disk a,) the function of the spring bein g to throw the arin forward and cause -the dart or spur C totransxthe gopher or other animal.

m is a shoulder on the lower end of the arm B, just outside ot" the disks a a', and

N is a trigger', having a. hook, n, on one end, which engages with the shoulder m, to hold the arm B upraised, as seen in continuous black lines, fig. 1, and when disengaged, allows the spring cto suddenly and with great force bring the arm B down to the position shown by the dotted black lines of the same figure.

The operator takes the instrument by the handle a, and sticks the sharp point of the staff int-o the ground in either a vertical or an inclined position, by the side of the animals hole, andso that the longerarm of the l lever or trigger N will extend nearly horizontally over the hole, as' shown in fig. 1. He then raises the spur until the shoulders 'ma interlock, as` represented in the same gure; and the trap is now set. Whenever the animal, coming toward the surface of the ground,

bined to operate together, substantially 'as and for the purposes set forth. l

CLARK POBLEY fitnesses J. W. WHITE, M. SHAEFNER. 

